


Wounded Birds

by aes_triplex



Category: Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23490310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aes_triplex/pseuds/aes_triplex
Summary: Tim needs to know. Dick has been where he is.(First submission, probably severely under-tagged. My apologies.)
Relationships: Tim Drake/Dick Grayson
Kudos: 10





	Wounded Birds

High above the streets of Gotham City, shadows move through the darkness. Sometimes, two of them meet.

“I see you slipped the leash tonight.”

“He had some social function, you know how it goes. He didn’t want to let me patrol by myself, but it’s like I told him, I can’t be an effective partner if I can’t handle it on my own.”

“Heh. Yeah, he hates that one, but he knows it’s the truth.”

They bided in companiable silence for a while, one leaning on his crossed arms against the high parapet of the roof, the other sitting on it and kicking his heels, until the elder spoke. “Got something you want to talk about, squirt?”

“Hey! I… er… when you—” a moment’s hesitation at touching a sore spot “— when you were Robin, did he ever _touch_ you?”

“How could he not — wait a second, you mean sexually?” The ghost of a nod, and a guarded response. “What brought this on?”

“Well… ya know, the crooks say a lot of things, right? About how he’s got himself a new bedwarmer, how you can always tell with these super-macho types, an’ I know it’s just to mock us, throw us off… but sometimes, the way he looks at me, the way he touches me, I think maybe he wants that kind of thing. But he never does anything, never even gives a sign! I dunno if I’m crazy, or sick, or what.”

“You know how I lost my parents, right?” A nod. “Well, for years I slept with Bruce, because if I went to bed by myself I’d wake up screaming.”

“Oh wow…”

“So we were pretty intimate, I guess. I mean, we were together all the time, you know? And I know he wanted me. I saw enough of him to be sure it wasn’t just the way you get hard, or a little hot, over all kinds of things. He _wanted_ me.”

“ _Oh_.”

“And I bet he wants you, too. Never think you’re just some kind of replacement. He wouldn’t keep you around just because he was—” a wry tone entered the voice “— pining for me. If he wants you, either as Robin or _that way_ , it’s because he wants you for yourself. But he wanted me, and he would never do anything about it, no matter how much I tried to let him know that it was all right, that I wanted it too. It’s just how he is.”

“But– but why?”

“You know there are dark places in his mind, bad things that’ll always be with him no matter how much good he does in the world, things that’re broken no matter how hard he ties to mend them. I thought, maybe, once I was out on my own, out of his shadow, more independent, he would be able to come to me that way ; but he never has. Probably he never will.”

Silence ensued for a while, both young men feeling reflective. “Would you be angry if I said I’m glad?”

“What do you mean?”

“My dad — he was a crook, yanno, an’ some of the guys he hung out with, well, they weren’t so particular how they got their rocks off, if you see what I mean.” The hitch in his breath was mirrored by the other’s hiss. “I– I thought maybe he knew that an– and he wouldn’t touch me because I was dirty!” By the end of the sentence, he was caught between a scream and a sob.

“Tim, Tim, something somebody does to you, something somebody makes you do, doesn’t make you dirty. Bruce would never think that.” The taller hero had caught the shorter to his chest with one arm, and was stroking his hair with the other. “I would never think that.”

“Even if I enjoyed it sometimes?” It was barely more than a whisper, but the guilt was palpable.

“People wouldn’t do those things if they didn’t feel good. Be glad that you were able to feel the pleasure, that it wasn’t all bad for you.”

“I’d like to do some of them with someone I wanted, though.” He seemed to realize his position, and adolescent cheeks coloured as masked eyes, glimmering with just a hint of moisture, looked up into others much like them. Whatever he might have meant to say was cut off, and quickly forgotten altogether, as their lips met.

High above the busy streets of Gotham, there are shadows. Sometimes, in the midst of shadows, there is light.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this years ago. The main inspiration, honestly, was [this one panel](http://www.superdickery.com/how-batman-and-robin-start-the-day/) presented without context on the much-loved Superdickery site.
> 
> This is the Animated Series Robin and Nightwing, in no small part because I just can't cope with the angst inherent in the Jason Todd storyline. Sorry, folks.


End file.
